I smoked cigarettes for 20 years. I then switched to pipe tobacco for a further 10 years, due to cost. I have tried many times to quit smoking either with the patch or cold turkey. I was able to ‘quit’ for a total of 5 months at one point, using the patch. However after that time, I found myself still suffering withdrawals strong enough to make me start again. 2 months ago, after the price of my usual tobacco jumped considerably, I decided to look into Electronic Cigarettes. Small versions were sold at the counter of my usual tobacco shop and I’d heard they’re not the real thing. I knew such a thing could only be bought online so I finally made the decision and looked around. I ended up buying an Ego-C starter kit and fluid with nicotine from a Canadian vendor. The day I started using it was the last day I technically smoked. For 2 weeks I only used the E-Cigarette and didn’t have any strong cravings for tobacco, despite having it still at my desk. After 2 weeks I experienced dizziness, anxiety, mood swings and had lost my ability to feel good naturally. I was preoccupied, unable to focus and anxious. I wasn’t sure what this was especially after 2 weeks without a problem. After a lot of research I determined this was likely withdrawal from something other than nicotine. I am otherwise healthy with no allergies or chronic ailments. Nor did I experience considerable discomfort such as headaches or nausea. Thinking it was possibly too much nicotine I cut the levels in my liquid by half, from 16mg to 8mg. That made things much worse. I then increased it to 20mg. This was definitely too much and I reduced back to 16mg. Throughout this time the above symptoms persisted but seemed to be lessening. There were a couple of occasions I picked up my pipe again to see if it would help but it just made it worse and didn’t make me feel normal again. I had backed myself into a corner. I couldn’t quit nicotine cold turkey and tobacco now made me feel horrible. I had almost no choice but to move forward. One of the difficulties in all of this was that most people seem not to have this problem or not as severe. I still have no answer as to why I experienced such extensive withdrawal but in some ways, after my experiences with the patch, I knew I’d need something more extensive than a 6 week cycle of the patch. There are others out there that have had this experience and talked to doctors and they say that this is all normal reaction to quitting smoking. The dizziness subsided gradually over a period of 4 weeks. The above symptoms would come and go, despite the E-Cigarette. Now at the 8 week mark, I’m no longer dizzy and disoriented but I’m still moody and anxious from time to time. It’s far better than it was weeks ago and I expect it to continue to get better. On the positive side, I generally feel better, can smell and taste things better, don’t cough anymore and E-Cigarettes have cut my ‘smoking’ budget by 1/3. I don’t experience any discomfort vaporizing and the nicotine levels are comfortable. As for negatives, I can’t state any. Other than tobacco withdrawal I’ve experienced only an increase in my general health. If there are any health risks associated with E-Cigarettes, I’ll take those over a deliberately concocted bouquet of carcinogenic poisons that is commercial tobacco any day. I hadn’t planned on using it as a smoking cessation device, it was much less expensive, mimicked the smoking experience and without all the harmful compounds in cigarettes. One thing is for sure is that I will never smoke tobacco again. It is possible that one day down the road I may quit nicotine completely but based on my experiences above, I’m recommending to myself that I stay on a steady level of vaporized nicotine for at least 1 year to allow my body to completely settle back to normal. After suffering through at least some of the tobacco based addiction, quitting the one component left, nicotine, will be fairly easy with gradual reduction. I would and do recommend E-Cigarettes to anyone that is looking for an alternative to smoking or even someone looking for a more effective method of quitting entirely. It can only save millions of lives, despite the tiny amount of harm that so far, current research is indicating. I thought I would smoke my entire life and now I can confidently say I have quit smoking and am confident I can quit nicotine in the near future if I so choose. It’s been a challenge to get through the withdrawal but definitely worth not smoking anymore.